I found this on facebook .it sure is a detailed view of the boko haram story

Dialog NG Wrote: A CRITICAL APPRAISAL OF THE GENESIS OF BOKO HARAM INSURGENCE(Note: this is[b] not an attempt to justify the Boko haram insurgence[/b] which[b] I and many other Muslim maintain is a transgression of the limits set by Islam.[/b] It is rather an attempt to understand the genesis behind the violent SinParties perpetrated by the group that is claiming innocent lives by the day, preventing peaceful coexistence and threatening the whole of Nigerian national security and unity).

Boko haram started in 2002 as a peaceful Islamic splinter group that nurtured a controversial ideology against western education. The group never called itself boko haram but was named by the public and given a raving attention by the Nigerian media when the sect leader Muhammad Yusuf declared and propagated that boko (western education) was haram (sacrilegious). Among the reasons he gave were some theories he regarded as contradictory to the priciples of Islam. An example is the theory human evolution found in western science books which excluded the divine hands of God in the creation of man and the universe. This, he explained opposed a fundamental principle of Islam which holds God as the omnipotent creator of the universe and all it contains. Other reason he sighted was the immorality that youths commonly engage in at western schools such as semi Unclad dressing, fornication, alcoholism and substance abuse etc. He also castigated the western education system as being deficient in solving the issue of joblessness among the Nigerian youths but rather robs them of the time needed to skill themselves in non white collar jobs.

His ideology was challenged by many Islamic scholars including his former teachers [/b]who regarded the western education as a thorny tree that has its good and bad side but maintained that Islam allows and encourages the quest for knowledge in its entire ramification. Although attempt to bring him to order by these scholars fell on deaf ears, he continued to lure many especially the youth who were mostly shackled by the bondage of escalating poverty and joblessness. [b]Many were said to have dropped out of schools and took to menial jobs and trading. Many tore their school certificate although in an interview with BBC Hausa, he denounced the allegation of ever telling any of his members to discard his certificate.

The sect continued to propagate their ideology and also called for the creation of an Islamic state in northern Nigeria. They continued to operate as a benign and non violent group until when the police killed a number of its members (about 14) during a funeral procession on the flimsy ground of not using a helmet.

The sect leader wrote series of letter to the Borno state government and the Borno commissioner of police. He called for the compensation of the family of victims killed extrajudiciously by the police during the funeral procession. He followed his letter with practical visits to the police but all appeal fell on deaf ears. He then called severally to the IG of police and the Yaradua administration to intervene but to date, nothing was done to the culprits.

He began to send threat to the government and the police. He castigated the Yara’ dua government in an out and called Yaradua an oppressor and declared the government as unjust. For those Muslim leaders and scholar who opposed his threat against the government, he declared them as hypocrite and even declared some as unbelievers. He and his member began to arm themselves while receiving support from many who sympathized with them and had grievance against the jungle justice of the Nigerian police. He was said to have received sympathy even by some non Muslims who were alleged to have bailed him out on some occasions that he was detained by the police on the ground of perceived breach of peace due to his threats to the Yar’adua governement.

According to Dr. Aliyu Tilde “Possession of arms is a crime, a serious one for that matter, because if for any reason all the 165 million Nigerians will resort to possessing firearms, then there will be endless bloodshed that will not appease God in anyway. Government owes other citizens the responsibility to check the group. In checking any such excesses, however, government should have followed the law and respect the fundamental rights of citizens. It can arrest and charge BH leaders and members with treason, possession of firearms, etc. But Yar'adua regime did none of these; instead, it chose to exterminate the group. Had government adopted due process and patiently abided by it throughout its conflict with the group, things wouldn't have reached this level. But it chose to err first, and its error compelled the group to adopt the dangerous strategy of operating underground.

Dr. aliyu further said “Let us not forget the “finish them” order that President Yar’adua gave to the security forces that morning when he was leaving for Brazil. In fact, he even timed it that by 4.00pm that day, the job must have been completed. In Maiduguri, Government went for total extermination of the group without recourse to any due process. The world was witness to how their centre was leveled by soldiers; Muhammad Yusuf, their leader, was executed; Muhammad Foi, a former member of Sheriff’s cabinet, was executed on the street after his arrest”

Muhammad Fugu, the father in-law of Muhammad Yusuf who never part of the group was declared wanted by the police. He brought himself willingly to the police station where he was killed on the spot without any interrogation but for simply being a relative to Muhammad Yusuf’s wife.“The police and the military went about killing anyone that resembled their members to the extent that people started shaving their beards en masse; etc. A senior police officer was reported in the press saying that he cannot guarantee the life of anyone wearing such features. So many were arrested along with their wives. They remain in prison to date without trial. Extermination is still the strategy of government in dealing with the group. Video footage of Mr. Yusuf’s extrajudicial muder soon went viral, but no one was tried and punished for the crime”.

“When the group protested at a police station in Bauchi did not actually necessitate an all-out war against it. In Bauchi, it was estimated that over seventy members of the group were massacred at their centre behind the airport. Apparently, they were even unaware of the conflict at Dutsen Tanshi police station that started that morning. By evening, the state commissioner for special duties led a team of government agents that leveled the centre with bulldozers. Passengers at the Yankari Park in Bauchi also witnessed how eight unarmed members were arrested and killed instantly by soldiers as they were boarding a bus to Maiduguri. [/b]The governor, Isa Yuguda, would later claim credit for the “decisive way” in which his government dealt with the group in his state”.

The world condemned the actions of the authorities on the highhandedness they showed.[b] The government apologized to the United Nations after it was condemned for the human right abuses, promising that it will bring the perpetrators to book. Actually, it did nothing. No disciplinary action was taken against anyone until when Boko Haram bombed the Police Headquarters in Abuja in 2010. Two police officers were then reportedly dismissed from service for the murder of the Boko Haram leader.Since the government chose to negotiate with bullets and bombs, Boko Haram therefore went underground. It took time to heal its wounds, regroup and re-strategize before returning to revenge what Imam Shekau described as the “the injustice meted against it.” Seeking revenge, Boko Haram targeted the police, the military and local politicians

When it reappeared in 2010, Boko Haram started to selectively kill people that assisted the authorities in identifying them. The initial victims were grassroots traditional rulers- all of them Muslims, the lawanis as they are called in Borno. Among the high profile killings made in this category were those of the junior brother to the Shehu of Borno, the state chairman of the ruling party in the state and its gubernatorial candidate during the last elections. After killing the first few, Boko Haram issued a warning that it will go after all those that aided the authorities in persecuting them. These included a number of ulama, traditional rulers, and the three governors of Borno, Gombe and Bauchi states. It demanded pubic apologies from the governors and got it from the last two.

Immediately the group started its selective killings, the ulama realized their vulnerability and none of them dared again to condemn the group publicly or repeat to assign it the Kharijite nomenclature. At a point, Boko Haram also issued a warning that they will also go against anyone who publicly condemns its activities, including journalists who do not live by the ethics of their profession in reporting it's activities.

The very day their massacre started in 2009, the Bauchi State government sought and obtained from the ulama in the town a fatwa which served as a license for authorities to kill Boko Haram members without recourse to justice. Only the most elderly sheikh in town opined differently, insisting that in Islam no soul should be killed without a ruling from a judge. That is why some of the ulama fled the country when Boko Haram staged a return the following year. The governor too has abandoned the Government House and practically relocated to Abuja since he received the death threat.

The government has been unable to protect its informants and other citizens from these attacks. This partially explains the silence of the Muslim community over Boko Haram.Whatever the case, None of this excuses Boko Haram’s killing of innocents. The group has swayed off the mark and has gone too far when it considered criticisms as attack. By so doing, they instill fear in the population and loose public sympathy. Appeal to its members to put down its weapons and negotiate with government and they will rebut in this standard format: “How can we trust any negotiation with people who are amassing arsenal to attack usJean Herskovits, a professor of history at the State University of New York had this to say “Instead, approximately 25 percent of Nigeria’s budget for 2012 is allocated for security, even though the military and police routinely respond to attacks with indiscriminate force and killing. Indeed, according to many Nigerians I’ve talked to from the northeast, the army is more feared than Boko Haram. Influential Nigerians from Maiduguri, where Boko Haram is centered, pleaded with Mr. Jonathan’s government in June and July not to respond to Boko Haram with force alone”

There is nothing, once said the UN Secretary-General after the bombing of UN headquarters in Abuja last year, which cannot be amicably resolved through dialogue. The government has to accept full responsibility and start a genuine process of reconciliation and rehabilitation. The Muslim society as whole must continue to condemn this baseless killings and check the activities of extremists – mainly youths who lack the wisdom to see things in different shades. They need to be guided accordingly by leaders of their sects and relevant authorities. Otherwise, they will continue drifting away from the centre until they reach a point where they dream of a whole world drowned in an ocean of human blood. Certainly, this will not please God who has described Himself as the Most Merciful.

(With Excerpts from The New Challenges of Boko Haram by Dr. Aliyu Tilde, in Nigeria book haram is not the problem By Hean Herskovits Published:January 2, 2012)

I just searched for a video of the executions of harmless men and boys picked up from their homes and some of those boys are so young and harmless. A policeman even ordered that one of the guys to be executed shouldnt be shot in the head because he wanted the guys hat. Even men using crutches to walk were executed.

If boko haram never existed, i know the c.i.a would have manufactured another killer group. These guys were hijacked by the evil c.i.a and transferred to the care of another of their formation, al qaeda.

Boko haram started in 2002 as a peaceful Islamic splinter group that nurtured a controversial ideology against western education. The group never called itself boko haram but was named by the public and given a raving attention by the Nigerian media when the sect leader Muhammad Yusuf declared and propagated that boko (western education) was haram (sacrilegious). Among the reasons he gave were some theories he regarded as contradictory to the priciples of Islam. An example is the theory human evolution found in western science books which excluded the divine hands of God in the creation of man and the universe. This, he explained opposed a fundamental principle of Islam which holds God as the omnipotent creator of the universe and all it contains. Other reason he sighted was the immorality that youths commonly engage in at western schools such as semi Unclad dressing, fornication, alcoholism and substance abuse etc. He also castigated the western education system as being deficient in solving the issue of joblessness among the Nigerian youths but rather robs them of the time needed to skill themselves in non white collar jobs.

Not true , Boko Haram started as a group with the main purpose of converting initially the entire North to Sharia and forbid western education just like we have with the taliban.

His ideology was challenged by many Islamic scholars including his former teachers [/b]who regarded the western education as a thorny tree that has its good and bad side but maintained that Islam allows and encourages the quest for knowledge in its entire ramification. Although attempt to bring him to order by these scholars fell on deaf ears, he continued to lure many especially the youth who were mostly shackled by the bondage of escalating poverty and joblessness. [b]Many were said to have dropped out of schools and took to menial jobs and trading. Many tore their school certificate although in an interview with BBC Hausa, he denounced the allegation of ever telling any of his members to discard his certificate.

Okay

The sect continued to propagate their ideology and also called for the creation of an Islamic state in northern Nigeria. They continued to operate as a benign and non violent group until when the police killed a number of its members (about 14) during a funeral procession on the flimsy ground of not using a helmet.

But how can you advocate Sharia for the entire North when Nigeria is supposedly a secular state. And what happens to the millions of Christians who live in Kaduna, the middle belt and other Northern states.

Indeed his quest to convert the North to Sharia was looking for trouble in the first place.

The government has a right to protect the state from harmful groups both passive and non-passive.

He began to send threat to the government and the police. He castigated the Yara’ dua government in an out and called Yaradua an oppressor and declared the government as unjust. For those Muslim leaders and scholar who opposed his threat against the government, he declared them as hypocrite and even declared some as unbelievers. He and his member began to arm themselves while receiving support from many who sympathized with them and had grievance against the jungle justice of the Nigerian police. He was said to have[b] received sympathy even by some non Muslims who were alleged to have bailed him out on some occasions that he was detained by the police on the ground of perceived breach of peace[/b] due to his threats to the Yar’adua governement.

And yet even though many non-muslims helped him, he personally beheaded pastors , ordered his followers to kill Christians and burn their churches. Is this how he repaid the non-muslims for helping him,

Typical !

According to Dr. Aliyu Tilde “Possession of arms is a crime, a serious one for that matter, because if for any reason all the 165 million Nigerians will resort to possessing firearms, then there will be endless bloodshed that will not appease God in anyway. Government owes other citizens the responsibility to check the group. In checking any such excesses, however, government should have followed the law and respect the fundamental rights of citizens. It can arrest and charge BH leaders and members with treason, possession of firearms, etc. But Yar'adua regime did none of these; instead, it chose to exterminate the group. Had government adopted due process and patiently abided by it throughout its conflict with the group, things wouldn't have reached this level. But it chose to err first, and its error compelled the group to adopt the dangerous strategy of operating underground.

So where did Boko haram get their arms from in the first place, if this was a so called peaceful group , how come they were caught with bombs, guns and all sorts of weapons

It is the government's duty to enforce law and order which includes the disarming of militant groups.

The FBI do it all the time in the US , this has curbed the American home-grown terrorism by about 95%.

Dr. aliyu further said “Let us not forget the “finish them” order that President Yar’adua gave to the security forces that morning when he was leaving for Brazil. In fact, he even timed it that by 4.00pm that day, the job must have been completed. In Maiduguri, Government went for total extermination of the group without recourse to any due process. The world was witness to how their centre was leveled by soldiers; Muhammad Yusuf, their leader, was executed; Muhammad Foi, a former member of Sheriff’s cabinet, [b]was executed on the street after his arrest”[/b]

I am sorry , but he that kills by the sword should also expect to die by the sword.

You cannot take away the lives of innocent people , put their families into mourning and poverty and expect to die like a saint.

Muhammad Fugu, the[b] father in-law of Muhammad Yusuf who never part of the group was declared wanted by the police. He brought himself willingly to the police station where he was killed on the spot [/b]without any interrogation but for simply being a relative to Muhammad Yusuf’s wife.“The police and the military went about killing anyone that resembled their members to the extent that people started shaving their beards en masse; etc. A senior police officer was reported in the press saying that he cannot guarantee the life of anyone wearing such features. So many were arrested along with their wives. They remain in prison to date without trial. Extermination is still the strategy of government in dealing with the group. Video footage of Mr. Yusuf’s extrajudicial muder soon went viral, but no one was tried and punished for the crime”.

This was unfortunate and wrong !!!

But then what do we expect from the Nigerian Police.

For the rest of the article, I have one simple question.

IF BOKO HARAM had their BEEF with the Nigerian police and soldiers, why did they embark on a slaughter of innocent non-Muslims , many of whom were children and women.

Barbaric, sad and disgusting as this act of the useless Nigerian Police force was, does this in anyway permit BOKO HARAM to go on a rampage killing any non-Muslim or Muslim that does not submit to their idea of ISLAM.

In fact a lot of comments from Muslims worldwide on this video , blamed these acts on Christians as a whole , even though the majority of the police men who killed this man and many others were Muslims themselves.

If their BEEF was with the police, why not face the Police

Did you know that only 26 policemen died in the recent KANO blasts , over 150 dead were civilians.

obviously not, when you have 2 wrongs you can never get 1 right, but same goes for violence, that is why dialogue is important, innocent civilians have suffered, even a prisoner has rights, dialogue is important

frosbel:

Barbaric, sad and disgusting as this act of the useless Nigerian Police force was, does this in anyway permit BOKO HARAM to go on a rampage killing any non-Muslim or Muslim that does not submit to their idea of ISLAM.

In fact a lot of comments from Muslims worldwide on this video , blamed these acts on Christians as a whole , even though the majority of the police men who killed this man and many others were Muslims themselves.

If their BEEF was with the police, why not face the Police

Did you know that only 26 policemen died in the recent KANO blasts , over 150 dead were civilians.

obviously not, when you have 2 wrongs you can never get 1 right, but same goes for violence, that is why dialogue is important, innocent civilians have suffered, even a prisoner has rights, dialogue is important

What would you suggest the theme of the dialogue should be? Would it be about religion or adherence to the constitution?

And as been rightly said. . . If their beef was with the police, why go after innocent civilians, and the bombings of churches. Also, why are tĦey advocating an islamized Nigeria (in their dreams though :p) By doing these, tĦey sĦouldn't expect to receive any sympathy.

And as been rightly said. . . If their beef was with the police, why go after innocent civilians, and the bombings of churches. Also, why are tĦey advocating an islamized Nigeria (in their dreams though :p) By doing these, tĦey sĦouldn't expect to receive any sympathy.

TĦey are blood thirsty b**tards, and tĦey have no case.

@frosbel and nanidee, If they targeted the Police alone, do you think they would have had this much impact? have you not heard about terrorist warfare tactics, when the enemy is beyond your means to fight toe-to-toe, you go for his balls and squeeze. The only way Terrorists fight is by killing en-masse to ensure fear is propagated at all levels and confidence is lost in constitutionally installed Security agencies (not that we have that much faith in them anyway). At this stage of the BH evolution one can confidently say they have had extra training in the making of improvised explosives. heaven-forbid they get their hands on some nuclear-based condiment to make a dirty bomb. FG Security agencies will have more than coke and fanta explosions on their hands I

I remember when the BH saga happened under yaradua, and Dora went on BBC spewing nonsense that yes this guys disserves to be executed! I was outside the country then and even made a YouTube video as to HOW ABOUT ARESTING THEM AND GETTING TO THE ROOT OF THIS MISGUIDED SECT, but trust nigerians we act on sentiments instead of common sense. The authorities were supposed to arrest, interrogate, indict and sentence this guys, at least we would have had some useful intel on how to deal with them now. But trust our barbaric securities, they executed them and now we Are all in this mess.

@ frosbel I think the article deols posted has to do with what actually happened and not what ought to have happened. So I don't think questioning the ideals of BH based on logic can get us anywhere coz clearly they don't reason logically and their demands are unreasonable if not impossible, but that doesn't abrogate the fact that they made them.

For instance I remembered when they used to target scholars and mosques in maiduguri, I was doing some work for a bank in yobe, then the regional manager used to suggest to the muslims to pray in the office instead of going to the mosque due to BH targeted assassinations in mosque and the ensuing innocent collateral damage. So I know that part as true.

Note: their style of targeting innocents is working against them, because now, tĦey are not only viewed as a group who want to get the sweet taste revenge, but as radicals, who have no clear-cut agenda.

TĦey also make good the claim of them being terrorists, and not just some poor illiterates, going by some of their organized operations and trainings.

Now, I happened to watch the video that showed the killings of the so-called bh people, including some innocents, and truth is, I felt pretty bad that human beings could be killed like chickens.

However, the point I am trying to make is this: had the group cited their grievances with the Nigerian govt, and the steps tĦey planned to take, iτ̅ might have been a different ball game, and tĦey might have wipped up sentiments by a large number of people.

But being barbaric with their sporadic killings, bombing churches and terrorizing the masses only makes iτ̅ obvious that tĦey have never had any noble intentions whatsover, and erases any form of pity people may have for them.

If boko haram never existed, i know the c.i.a would have manufactured another killer group. These guys were hijacked by the evil c.i.a and transferred to the care of another of their formation, al qaeda.

You are one confused and ignorant soul whose life revolves around conspiracy theories.You really need to get enlightened instead of publicly exhibiting your ignorance.

I think you will find it difficult to get anybody to buy this spin, BH is a terrorist group from day one, please don't give me this story line of 'peaceful organisation' nonsense. BH is doing what Taliban,[b]al shabab[/b] and other Islamic militant groups are doing in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Somalia.

We all know what they stand for, like somebody pointed out . . NL now has branch of BOKO HARAM.

The subtle summary of this article is " boko-haram was a peacful gorup, but became violent as a result of police (or Govt) provocation". But we know the effort is another attempt to solicit public sympathy for these lunatics. How can police force jst wake up one morning and decide to kill 14 members of a "peaceful group" Jst because they did not wear helment? That's ridiculous! I leaved in maiduguri those period, I knew what happened! Yussufiyya group now known as Boko-haram started with a violent ideology, the reason some of his teachers were calling him to order. His message was a msg of blood ab initio! No right thinking person will want to justify these mass killing of inocents under any guise! This article has failed woefully to re-write the history in a manner to suit an opinion!